DENVER – Newly released dash cam video of a crash from over the weekend shows the moment a suspect vehicle crashes into one of two Colorado State Patrol vehicles, sending one trooper over the side of the bridge.
The nearly six-minute video shows CSP troopers responding to Interstate 270 at milepost 1 in Adams County at around 3:45 a.m. on a call about a minor injury crash on the roadway near the Interstate 76 interchange attributed to speeding.
Deputies were investigating when another speeding car comes in, drives through the traffic cones that were set up by troopers, and hits the patrol vehicle, pushing it several feet toward one of the responding troopers.
Trooper Kevin Bagley is then seen backing out as the vehicle barrels toward him, and is seen falling over a bridge barrier to the bank of the South Platte River about 30 feet below.
CSP chief Colonel Matthew Packard said during a news conference Monday that Bagley, a two-year veteran of the state patrol, is lucky to be alive.
"By the grace of God, today, I'm standing here talking about patrol cars being hit, and not people losing their lives on Saturday morning," he said. "And, unequivocally, it's sheer luck."
Packard said that so far this year, 12 patrol cars have been hit while troopers were out doing their jobs.
That’s an increase in first responder-related crashes of 50% from last year, when there were only eight reported crashes involving CSP vehicles during the whole year, according to Packard.
“I'm asking for everybody's help,” Packard pleaded with Coloradans Monday. “Lives are dependent upon decisions that are made behind the wheel of a car. That's it. And you have one job when you're driving a car, and that's to do it responsibly.”
The driver of the car who struck the patrol car, forcing the trooper into the shores of the South Platte River, was treated at the hospital and later booked into the Adams County Jail, Packard said.
That suspect – identified as 30-year-old Cesar Ayala Manriquez – is facing vehicular assault and reckless driving charges. Additional charges are pending.
